The message of tonight’s Sony CES press event? Bigger’s not always, better, we guess. The huge reveal on the side of the stage at tonight’s event were two new Ultra HD TVs— smaller siblings of the positively massive 84-inch beast we’ve already seen. But what these guys lack in sheer size, they make up for a bit with bezel. There’s a lot that on either side of the display. That’s where the magnetic fluid speakers live, right in the middle of the glossy black expanse.
The overall effect is a TV that looks much wider than it is tall. The TV also looks a fair bit thicker than a lot of the HDTVs current on the market. As for the display itself — that’s great, as to be expected. As lifelike as Kaz suggested on-stage, though some of the colors do look a touch oversaturated as you get up close to the thing. The TV sits atop a shiny silver ring that juts out a bit from the front. The new models measure 65- and 55-inches. They’re due to arrive this spring.
The New Nikon 1 J3 and Nikon 1 S1 are steps one and three of the newly established price ladder for Nikon’s series of mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras. At $500 with a slim 11-27.5mm kit zoom lens, the 10.1 megapixel Nikon 1 S1 is a particularly well-priced option that might entice the photographers who should actually be interested in Nikon’s mirrorless camera system. More »
What’s in a remote? If you’re Sony, it’s an opportunity to pack in some extra connectivity: select models (read: the more expensive sets, from the W800 range and above) from the company’s 2013 line-up will come with a new, NFC-capable clicker, perfect for hooking up your Xperia device for straightforward video and audio streaming.
Sony already showed us its easy-pairing approach using NFC on the Xperia Z, but the system has more uses than just streaming audio over Bluetooth to a speaker or headset. The TV controller – which Sony is calling the One-touch Remote – when tapped briefly against your compatible Xperia phone automatically pairs up a WiFi Direct connection, and begins screen mirroring.
That means photos, videos, music, and apps on the big screen, and in a way that’s probably so straightforward that we can even envisage the mass-market adopting it. Tapping the phone against the remote a second time cuts the connection, with a little haptic-feedback buzz from the Xperia to let you know it’s worked.
In fact, the limiting factor is likely to be the fact that it’s Sony-only right now. Just as with other customized NFC-based systems we’ve seen – Samsung’s S Beam comes to mind, on the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II – there’s no playing nicely between the technologies. Being able to hand your friends and family the remote and have their content almost instantly appear on the big-screen is great; having to frisk them to make sure they have a Sony Xperia first is less impressive.
We already got to spend a little up-close-and-personal time with the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S, but now it’s time to check out the latest in a long line of ThinkPads. Say hello to the new ThinkPad Edge E431 and E531, a couple of brand new Windows 8 laptops from Lenovo. The company revealed these two new laptops before CES 2013 kicked off, but today we received our first look at the OneKey technology the company has been pushing.
OneLink is essentially Lenovo’s way to cut down on wires and cords in the immediate vicinity of your ThinkPad Edge. By using the OneLink cable to connect your ThinkPad Edge to the OneLink dock, you’ll not only begin charging your computer, but you’ll also gain access to the USB and HDMI ports on the front and backside of the dock. Here you can connect all of your peripherals while only dealing with one cable in your immediate work area.
Both ThinkPad Edge computers can be powerhouses too, should you so choose. Lenovo will let you go all the way up to the third-gen Intel Core i7, along with an impressive 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage space. Be warned though: at 14-inches for the E431 and 15.6-inches for the E531, these bad boys aren’t exactly small. They both come in right around the 5 pound mark as well, which is certainly quite a bit heavier than the other Lenovo products I had a look at today.
If don’t mind the relatively hefty size, though, then you probably won’t have any problem loving these new ThinkPads, which are running Windows 8. Couple Microsoft’s newest operating system with Lenovo’s new five-button ClickPad – which was specifically designed for making Windows 8 navigation a breeze – and you’ve got one laptop that’s definitely worthy of consideration. Keep it right here at SlashGear for much more from CES 2013!
Samsung’s S9000-series Ultra HD TVs are two things: impressive and not cheap. We caught up with Samsung’s Joe Stinziano, EVP of Samsung America, to talk about the new set, some of the design and hardware decisions behind it, and – perhaps most importantly for the mass market – when we can expect to see 4K multimedia and cheaper models to reach the shelves of your local Best Buy. Head on past the cut for the full video.
As Stinziano says, right now the S9000 series is a luxury item. Samsung hasn’t announced actual pricing, but with the 85-inch ES9000 having a $10k RRP, and “only” offering Full HD 1080p resolution, we wouldn’t be surprised if the S9000 came in at twice that amount.
Samsung’s Joe Stinziano talks Ultra HD and the S9000:
It’ll take a while for the trickle-down. Samsung envisages more affordable Ultra HD models coming down the line within the next 3-5 years, while smaller sets will also begin to emerge. The first uses for the latter may well be in medical and digital media editing, rather than home entertainment, Stinziano predicts, where the extra pixels may be most immediately useful.
As for content, Samsung is pushing its upscaling technology – which can take 1080p video and squeeze some better quality from it – but Stinziano concedes that it’ll take a while for native Ultra HD to proliferate. He likens that to the transition from standard- to high-definition, another roughly five year process.
More on the Samsung S9000-series Ultra HD TV here, and more CES 2013 news in our show hub.
[CES 2013] If you fancy yourself to be a good photographer but felt that your compact camera or point and shoot is no longer capable of getting the job done, Sony has unveiled a new Cyber-Shot in the form of the DSC-H200, a camera which by the looks of it has been designed for the prosumer in mind, especially since it offers up more controls and functionality which the more experienced photographer will probably appreciate. So what can customers expect from the DSC-H200?
Well for starters Sony has installed a Super HAD CCD sensor in the camera with 20.1MP. It comes with a fixed lens attached to it with a minimum aperture of f/3.1 at its widest, and offers up optical zoom of 26x, and digital zoom of 52x. It also offers an ISO range of up to 3200 which should help in low light situations, built-in flash, a 3” LCD display to check on your photos after you’ve shot them, and as expected from all cameras these days, movie recording capabilities up to 720p HD quality. As you can see in the photo above, the DSC-H200 will come in a DSLR-like body which should offer better ergonomics as well. Priced at $249, the DSC-H200 should be available for purchase sometime in January.
[CES 2013] So you might be enjoying some music on your phone or tablet while on the way home, or maybe an entertaining YouTube video, but since you’re home why bother watching it on such a small display, right? If you’re interested in a connected TV that allows you to stream content from your mobile devices onto your television, Sony has announced the Bravia KDL W900 LED connected TV which they will be showing off at CES 2013.
According to Sony, they will be taking advantage of NFC technology and allow users to pair their mobile devices with the TV wirelessly, although this means that you will need to own a mobile device with NFC capabilities. However we’re assuming that Sony is referring to their Xperia lineup of smartphones which has an NFC chip installed for most of them. Other features Sony is boasting includes a TV with an elegant design, Edge LED display with support for Full HD 1080p video, X-Reality Pro, integrated speakers, active shutter 3D with two pairs of glasses included, built-in WiFi, and access to Sony Entertainment Network. Pricing and availability of the Bravia KDL W900 TV has yet to be determined.
[CES 2013] While 3D movies don’t particularly appeal to me, we’re pretty sure that there are a couple of you guys out there who love the immersive experience that 3D movies bring to the table, and if you’re looking for a Blu-ray disc player, Sony has announced the BDP-S5100 which they will be taking on the road for CES 2013, and apart from its cabinet design which should blend in nicely with the rest of your entertainment system, one of the features that Sony is touting is the BDP’s ability to convert 2D DVD or Blu-ray movies into 3D which can then be played back on your 3D TV, assuming you own one of course.
Other features of the BDP-S5100 include built-in WiF, the ability to mirror content from other devices, along with access to streaming content from service providers such as Netflix, YouTube, HuluPlus, Pandora, Amazon Instant Video and more. The BDP-S5100 will also sport an encased optical drive which according to Sony will offer up smoother playback while protecting it from dust and debris.
Sony is starting 2013 with a bang, in the shape of the new Sony Xperia Z smartphone, a 5-inch 1080p powerhouse that wraps a 13-megapixel camera, quadcore S4 Pro processor, and 4G LTE in a waterproof glass casing. Revealed at CES today, and beginning a global roll-out in Q1, the Xperia Z puts Sony back on top of its game (and leaves us wishing Sony, not LG, was picked for the latest Google Nexus product). Read on for our hands-on first impressions.
When it comes to specs, the Xperia Z ticks all the right boxes. Measuring in at 139 x 71 x 7.9 mm and 146g, it runs Jelly Bean on Qualcomm’s S4 Pro APQ8064+MDM9215 quadcore with Adreno 320 graphics and 2GB of RAM; Sony tells us that it’ll be Android 4.1 at launch, with a 4.2 upgrade “shortly after” that. Connectivity includes LTE and HSPA+, depending on local market, along with WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, MHL-HDMI, aGPS/GPS/GLONASS, and a microSD card slot for up to 32GB cards. Internal storage clocks in at 16GB.
Inside, there’s a 2,330 mAh non-removable battery good for up to 14hrs of UMTS talktime or up to 510hrs of LTE standby. However, Sony also adds a Battery STAMINA Mode option to the settings, which – when enabled – turns off any background data use while the screen is turned off. A whitelist allows select apps to remain active, but Sony says that with STAMINA turned on, runtime is extended up to fourfold. The system learns from your usage style and that of different apps, too, automatically adjusting its runtime estimate according to which apps are in the whitelist.
Sony Xperia Z overview:
As for the cameras, that’s a 13-megapixel sensor on the back and a 2-megapixel version on the front; the main camera uses Sony’s Exmor RS technology for better quality, and the interface features elements pulled from Sony’s CyberShot line. A “Superior Auto” mode adjusts the scene according to lighting, movement, and subject conditions, while a burst mode can continuously capture 10fps at 9-megapixels until your battery (or storage) expires. Sony is particularly proud of its HDR technology, which is used not only in still photos but in video capture too.
Those videos look particularly good on the Xperia Z’s display. The new flagship features the latest iteration of screen processing software from Sony’s HDTV range, Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2, which does real-time processing to make video content more colorful and engaging. It looks fantastic on the 5-inch TFT LCD HD Reality Display, with bright colors and crisp edges that don’t look over-saturated in comparison to some AMOLED panels of the moment. On top is a layer of scratch-resistant, shatterproof glass.
There’s shatterproof glass on the back, too, and glass-like inserts in the subtly curved sides. However, rather than being prone to smashing, the Xperia Z meets IP55 and IP57 dust and water resistance specifications, and can survive being immersed in (clean) water for up to 30 minutes with no issues. Even the power button is special: Sony has milled it precisely from aluminum, after its research found that the average user presses the key 64 times a day.
Sony Xperia Z walkthrough:
As for NFC, Sony will be using that as the “enabler” for a push in distributed media sharing around the home. Alongside the Xperia Z there’s a new Stereo Bluetooth Headset SBH20 and Wireless Headset DR-BTN200M, both of which can be paired via NFC simply by holding the Xperia Z nearby. Sony also has a new five-strong range of Smart TVs for CES, which include NFC in the remote control for easily pairing the phone with the TV and then streaming video over WiFi Direct.
Certain markets and carriers will get the Sony Xperia ZL, a second variant on the Xperia Z. It shares almost all of the specifications as the regular Xperia Z, but in a shorter, slightly thicker housing; it’s also not waterproof.
Sony isn’t talking pricing at this stage, nor confirming exact US availability or which carrier(s) might have picked up the Xperia Z or Xperia ZL. Still, from everything we’ve seen here at CES, this is the most compelling Sony handset in some time.
[CES 2013] Sony has a trio of high definition Handycam camcorders of the flash memory variety to rock CES 2013, and they are the Sony HDR-PJ790V, HDR-PJ650V and HDR-PJ430V, which will retail this coming February for $1,599, $1,099 and $849, respectively. The Sony HDR-PJ790V will be the high end model of the trio, boasting a 24.1-megapixel Exmor R CMOS sensor to enable you to get the best start in amateur filmmaking, where it even comes with a 5.1 channel microphone and a built-in projector.
The latter is capable of projecting up to 100” videos thanks to its 35 lumens projector, and there is also a HDMI input terminal which helps project content from external devices. Balanced Optical SteadyShot image stabilization, a whopping 96GB of flash memory, a multi-interface shoe, Wi-Fi connectivity and manual controls round off the list of specifications. (more…)
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[CES 2013] If you fancy yourself to be a good photographer but felt that your compact camera or point and shoot is no longer capable of getting the job done, Sony has unveiled a new Cyber-Shot in the form of the DSC-H200, a camera which by the looks of it has been designed for the prosumer in mind, especially since it offers up more controls and functionality which the more experienced photographer will probably appreciate. So what can customers expect from the DSC-H200?
[CES 2013] Sony has a trio of high definition Handycam camcorders of the flash memory variety to rock CES 2013, and they are the Sony HDR-PJ790V, HDR-PJ650V and HDR-PJ430V, which will retail this coming February for $1,599, $1,099 and $849, respectively. The Sony HDR-PJ790V will be the high end model of the trio, boasting a 24.1-megapixel Exmor R CMOS sensor to enable you to get the best start in amateur filmmaking, where it even comes with a 5.1 channel microphone and a built-in projector.